International Business Center

Bradley Distinguished Lecture Series

The Bradley Distinguished Lecture Series provides our community the opportunity to hear internationally respected scholars, policy experts, and thought leaders who provide important insights into economic policies and actions that reinforce people’s faith in American democratic capitalism and free enterprise, and foster America’s global economic competitiveness, entrepreneurialism and innovation.  Each year, several hundred business leaders, executives, academic leaders, and policy-makers attend the series.

The series is sponsored by UWM’s Lubar College of Business and The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Private Equity and Venture Capital in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Steven N. Kaplan, Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, and Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director, Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Thursday, March 19, 2026
11:30am-1:30pm
Discovery World, Roger & Judy Smith Pilot House
500 N. Harbor Dr., Milwaukee, WI

The large increase in private equity, venture capital and private debt has generated widespread interest and scrutiny, particularly in light of the AI-boom and its financing. What is the history of private equity and venture capital? What do private equity and venture capital actually do to the companies they invest in? How have they really performed for investors? With the investment boom, how are they likely to perform in the future in the age of AI? Do these investors and their investment structures make us vulnerable to another financial crisis? Dr. Kaplan offers his analysis and perspectives on these issues and his views on potential implications for policymakers.

Dr. Kaplan’s research focuses on private equity, venture capital, corporate governance and executive talent. He was elected a Fellow of the American Finance Association in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of finance. He is the co-creator of the Kaplan-Schoar PME (Public Market Equivalent) private equity benchmarking approach. A Fortune Magazine article referred to him as “probably the foremost private equity scholar in the galaxy.” Professor Kaplan is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. 

Professor Kaplan co-founded the entrepreneurship program at Booth. With his students, he helped start Booth’s business plan competition, the New Venture Challenge (NVC), which has spawned over two hundred companies. The companies have raised over $1.2 billion from investors and have created over $10 billion in market value. Companies include GrubHub, Simple Mills, Braintree/Venmo, Open Water and Tovala. Professor Kaplan serves on the board of Morningstar (MORN). He co-created the Lincoln Middle Market Index. 

Professor Kaplan earned his PhD in Business Economics from Harvard University. He received his AB, summa cum laude, in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard College.

Registration is now closed. Please contact Kennedy Wiegel for more information.

Past events have included:

Mortgage Finance Policy, Monetary Policy and Financial Crises
Featuring: Douglas W. Diamond, 2022 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and Merton H. Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago – Booth School of Business
View recording

Inflation
Featuring: John H. Cochrane, Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University 
View recording

Debt, Deficits, and Sustainability: The US Fiscal Challenge
Featuring: James Poterba, Mitsui Professor of Economics at MIT and President of the National Bureau of Economic Research
View recording

Reimagining Development: Possible Lessons from India and Implications for the U.S.
Featuring: Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
View recording

It’s Time to Get Back to Rules-Based Monetary Policy
John B. Taylor, Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics, Stanford University; George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institution; and Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

The Anatomy of Government Failure: Making Government Effective and Affordable
Michael J. Boskin, Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Wohlford Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

U.S. Fiscal Policy and Government Debt: Looking Beyond the Pandemic
James Poterba, Mitsui Professor of Economics at MIT, and President & CEO of the National Bureau of Economic Research
View recording

Disruption’s Wake: The Wall and The Bridge
Glenn Hubbard, Dean Emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School
View recording

U.S. Economic Outlook: Is Another Recession Looming?
Randall S. Kroszner, Norman R. Bobins Professor of Economics and Deputy Dean for Executive Programs at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago

The Administrative Threat to Civil Liberties
Philip Hamburger, J.D. Maurice and Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School

Is Tax Reform the Impossible Dream?
James M. Poterba, Mitsui Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,and President of the National Bureau of Economic Research

Inequality, Human Capital and Growth: Implications for U.S. Economic Policy
Kevin M. Murphy, George J. Stigler Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

The Dodd-Frank Act and the Unending Growth of the Administrative State
Peter J. Wallison, Arthur F. Burns Chair in Financial Market Studies and
Co-director of American Enterprise Institute’s (“AEI”) program on financial market deregulation.

“What Will Determine Our Economic Future?
Michael J. Boskin, Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics & Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University